The Blue Crew can hit, there’s no doubt about that, and the best statistical offense in major league baseball earned their money last night with 18 hits en route to beating the pants off the Cincinnati Reds, 14-6.

Yes, it was old school Dodger baseball last night as they strung together several rallies throughout the game to give the Reds their seventh loss in the last eight games. Rafael Furcal led the way with four RBI finishing just a home-run shy of the cycle, and Matt Kemp homered in his second-consecutive game (his seventh of the season, all of which have come in the last 10 games) as the Dodgers won again despite giving up six runs.

James Loney eventually busted the game wide open with a two-run single, part of a three-run sixth, to push the score to 12-6, and the Dodger bullpen shut the Reds out the rest of the game. All of the Dodgers position players earned a hit off Cincinnati pitching last night, and five Dodgers posted multiple hit games (Furcal-3, Ethier-3, Loney-3, Ramirez-3, and Russ Martin-2).

The Dodger outfield continues to rip the face off the ball as All-Star balloting gets underway. Kemp went 1-for-3 with four runs and two RBI, Ethier added a solo home-run in the third, his fourth of the year, going 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBI, and Ramirez’s three singles pushed his average up to .421. After last night, Manny is hitting a red-hot 8-20 at Great American Ball Park.

Including Furcal, Loney and pinch-hitter Reed Johnson’s RBI single in the ninth, the top of the Dodger order batted a blistering 14-24 (.583 ba!). The Dodgers go into tonight’s game hitting a major-league best .315 and averaging 6.6 runs per game.

Pitching doesn’t seem to be the factor in this series so far. Both teams have combined for 51 hits, including seven long balls at hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park. Despite getting off to a slow start Hiroki Kuroda earned his second win of the season. Kuroda gave up a total of six runs (three of which were earned) on seven hits in 5 and 2/3 innings, and for the first time in awhile the Dodger bullpen managed to hurl a shutout. Sherill, Weaver, Monasterios, and the newly activated Ronald Belisario combined for 3 and 1/3 allowing only two hits and two walks.

Vicente Padilla (1-1) will take the hill tonight after a shaky couple of starts. The right-hander has been roughed up the first couple of outings but has improved each time; he gave up three runs and struck out seven in seven innings of a 10-8 win over San Francisco on Friday.

Padilla (8.03 ERA) will be matched up against Reds’ rookie pitcher Mike Leake (0-0, 2.63 ERA) as the Blue Crew tries to peak past the .500 mark for the first time this season. They should fare pretty well tonight the Reds who are also having some pitching problems of their own. Los Angeles is 23-5 against the Reds since 2006, the best record against any team during that time span. The game is scheduled to start at 7:05 EDT.

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How does a baseball team still manage to stay below .500 despite having one of the most explosive offenses in the league? Pitching, or a lack thereof.

This time the Dodgers tried but couldn’t quite rebound from Billingsley’s latest meltdown. After giving up seven hits and four earned, most of which came in a six-run second inning, Los Angeles erased a six-run Reds’ lead late in the ballgame, but the struggling Dodger bullpen couldn’t come through in the clutch…again.

The Reds jumped out to what seemed like an insurmountable 9-3 lead when Matt Kemp and the Dodger offense came back in waves. After a lead-off double by Ronnie Belliard, Rafael Furcal singled in a run in the eighth and Kemp cleared the bases with a three-run shot to center which tied the ballgame, completing obliterating a six-run deficit. The home-run was Kemps his sixth of the season, all of which have come in the last nine games.

The tie lasted all of three batters as the Dodgers’ bullpen continues to lose games in the late innings. Ramon Troncoso (1-1) came in the game and quickly gave two of those runs right back to the Reds, which ended up being the difference in the game. After Troncoso walked two, Cincinnati’s Paul Janish singled home the tiebreaking run, and the Reds broke their five-game losing streak to a Dodger team that just haven’t found the answers on the road.

I guess the Reds were just due.

But when you’re losing games despite having plated nine runs, it be a little nauseating to watch. Casey Blake led the Dodger hitting with two extra-base hits and four RBI while the 6-7-8 portion of the batting order (Blake, DeWitt, Martin) all managed to go 2-for-5. However, it’s pitching that’s the problem for Los Angeles, both starting and relief pitching. When the starting rotation can’t seem to go past the sixth inning and the bullpen struggles to get out of jams late in the ballgame it’s a recipe for disaster. Something’s got to give, and until they find the right chemistry it’s going to continue to be a roller coaster season.

In a move to patch up their bleeding bullpen, the Dodgers activated pitcher Ronald Belisario for tonight’s game against Cincinatti. Last season Belisario pitched an impressive 2.04 ERA in 70 1/3 innings in his rookie season, but he was placed on the restricted list of the Dodgers’ roster this off-season after missing most of spring training when he couldn’t acquire a visa from his native Venezuela.

Hiroki Kuroda (1-0) gets his third start of the season tonight against Aaron Harang (0-2), who gets my vote for ugliest soul patch in the National League (considering that Scott Spiezio is no longer playing). The Dodgers hope to get some help from their bullpen and hopefully take a game on the road (they have lost five of seven on the road so far this season).

The Dodgers activated the Venezuelan pitcher just one day after sending veteran Russ Ortiz back to Triple-A Albuquerque. The move makes Belisario elligible to pitch in tonight’s game against the Cincinnati Reds, and they may choose to go with him after last night’s latest bullpen meltdown when Ramon Troncoso walked two and gave up a two-run, go-ahead single to the Reds in the eighth.

As one writer so eloquently put it: “Cincinnati had the Dodgers bullpen seeing red…again.”

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Belisario could help stop the bleeding; he is coming back from a bright rookie season where he hurled an ERA of 2.04 in 70 2-3 innings and helped the Blue down the stretch when the starting rotation couldn’t get past the sixth inning.

But the pitcher does come with some baggage. He was arrested last year in California for suspicion of driving under the influence, and supposedly the ensuing court case created visa problems in his native Venezuela, which caused him to miss most of spring training. As a result, he’s been on the Dodgers restricted list prior to his activation this week.

Belisario may not be the only missing link to Los Angeles’ bullpen. The Dodgers also brought up Jon Link for his major league debut last night against the Cincinnati Reds. Link came in the sixth inning after the Reds jumped out to a 9-3 lead. The right-hander threw two scoreless innings allowing no hits and only one walk.